Patch 5.4 Feature Preview: Connected Realms

Blizzard

Over the years, World of Warcraft players of all kinds have naturally migrated to different realms to play with their friends, find new guilds, strive for Heroic boss kills, search for the most competitive PvP experiences, and otherwise try to find the right place to call home. Over time, these shifts in player population can sometimes create a less-than-optimal play experience for those on less popular realms, making it tougher to find guilds, conquer group content, and get what they’re looking for from the Auction House and in-game economy.

In Patch 5.4, we’re looking to address this with a new feature called Connected Realms. Building on our existing cross-realm technology, a Connected Realm is a set of two or more standard realms that have been permanently and seamless “linked.” These linked realms will behave as if they were one cohesive realm, meaning you’ll be able to join the same guilds and Arena teams, access a single Auction House, run the same Raids and Dungeons, and join other adventurers to complete quests.

Our goal with Connected Realms is to give players on lower-population realms more opportunities to group up, compete, and connect with other players to take on Azeroth’s bigger challenges. That sort of interaction is a big part of what makes World of Warcraft fun, and this feature will help us deliver that experience to even more players.

We’ve prepared a short FAQ to answer a few questions we’re sure you’ll have, and we’re very eager to hear your thoughts and collect further questions in your comments below.

Q. Why are you implementing Connected Realms?

A.As WoW has evolved, we’ve seen players naturally gravitate toward a subset of very active realms, leaving behind lower-populated realms. Due to the massively multiplayer nature of World of Warcraft, certain kinds of gameplay experiences simply aren’t well-suited to a low-pop realm. By allowing players from two or more lower-pop realms to play together, we hope to give more players more opportunities to participate in group-oriented activities, helping to foster a more vibrant in-game community.

Connected Realms also allow us to link populations in a way that’s not disruptive to players, and that doesn’t negatively impact players’ sense of identity and character. Other alternatives such as merging realms would require us to force character name changes if there were conflicts, and could lead to confusion for returning players who’d log in to find their realm missing from the realm list. Some players also feel strong ties to their realm’s name or history, and we don’t want to erase that.

Q. Why implement this now?

A. Our cross-realm technology has continued to evolve since it was first developed for joining players in dungeons. It’s now at a point where we can create seamless worlds made up of multiple individual realms, and we think there are some really positive benefits to that.

Q. How can I tell if someone is on my Connected Realm, but from a different realm?

A. Similar to how we use the (*) symbol next to a player’s name to denote if they’re from another realm in Raid Finder, Dungeons, Scenarios, or a cross-realm zone, we’ll be using a (#) symbol to indicate that someone is part of your Connected Realm, but not your home realm.

Q. Which realms will be connected as Connected Realms?

A.We haven’t decided yet which realms will be made part of a Connected Realm, or which other realms they’ll be connected to, though realms will only be connected to other realms of the same type (e.g. PvE to PvE, PvP to PvP, RP to RP). In the end, we’re considering a number of factors, including Battlegroup, population, and faction balance.

Q. How many realms will make up a Connected Realm?

A.We don’t know how many realms will make up a Connected Realm yet, and it’s likely to differ from Connected Realm to Connected Realm. Our goal is to create a vibrant and fun online experience where you can join guilds, access an active Auction House, and band together to take on group content.

Q. Will Connected Realms have any limitations?

A. There should be no limitations. We want the experience to be seamless, and we expect it work as if you’re suddenly part of a much more active realm.

Q. When will Connected Realms be available?

A. We haven’t yet determined when we’ll be creating the first Connected Realms, but we expect it will be some time after the launch of Patch 5.4.

Comments

Comment by sltrhouse

This will help out alot of the smaller realms stay alive. Maybe even help out the horde/alliance ratio on some servers.

Comment by polygon

on 2013-08-05T11:17:35-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Comment by SurvivalHunter

on 2013-08-05T11:21:01-05:00

I see this being as bad an idea as Cross realm Zones is.

Comment by nezull

on 2013-08-05T11:23:59-05:00

whats the difference between this and just transferring people in low population servers onto one large server?

Comment by Mikula

on 2013-08-05T11:30:08-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Yeah. The only reason they're doing it virtually is so that they don't upset their investors and shareholders. It's typically seen as the death knell of an MMO when servers merge, and this is their way of sidestepping the issue.

Comment by gunstarr

on 2013-08-05T11:33:23-05:00

Definatly looking forward to this! CRZ has been a blessing as well. Its nice going to Dal and seeing lots of people, the way it should be.

Comment by ayligerwolf

on 2013-08-05T11:38:43-05:00

I see this being as bad an idea as Cross realm Zones is.

not really, in fact, i personally think it is better than crz. Before, ppl from other servers would go around and take our resources and sell them in their server's market and we would be out of luck. Now it will be under the same market. Not only resources but buyers as well.

What has me wondering is when are they going to (if they decide to do) announce which servers are going to get connected with which others..

Comment by DKong27

on 2013-08-05T11:39:28-05:00

whats the difference between this and just transferring people in low population servers onto one large server?

Because people pay for server transfers.

Comment by gunstarr

on 2013-08-05T11:41:58-05:00

whats the difference between this and just transferring people in low population servers onto one large server?

If you read the entire article and FAQ's it told why they were not going to do this.

Comment by JerethKhan

on 2013-08-05T11:42:46-05:00

I'm pretty sure that question was answered in paragraph 2 of question 1 in the mini faq in this article.

Comment by gunstarr

on 2013-08-05T11:45:32-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Yeah. The only reason they're doing it virtually is so that they don't upset their investors and shareholders. It's typically seen as the death knell of an MMO when servers merge, and this is their way of sidestepping the issue.

Someone always thinks they know the REAL reason Blizz does what it does.... If Everquest is still going after 16 years, I dont see any reason WoW wont be.

Comment by Mikula

on 2013-08-05T11:55:15-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Yeah. The only reason they're doing it virtually is so that they don't upset their investors and shareholders. It's typically seen as the death knell of an MMO when servers merge, and this is their way of sidestepping the issue.

Someone always thinks they know the REAL reason Blizz does what it does.... If Everquest is still going after 16 years, I dont see any reason WoW wont be.

I'm not saying wow will die. I'm speaking from a purely fiscal perspective. If blizzard physically merge realms, people will lose confidence in world of warcraft as a money maker. It will affect the value of the entire Activision-Blizzard company. This is why performing these mergers as a software issue is better than physically doing the same thing. They are functionally identical ideas.

Comment by Nulgar

on 2013-08-05T12:10:06-05:00

It is like a merge, yes, but far better, as neither server is deleted, and everyone gets to keep their name.

Comment by Arraya

on 2013-08-05T12:13:59-05:00

I wonder how this will work. Can Connected Realms connect with Cross Realms? Because that will be way too many people and will only make things stressful (at least for me). Lets just hope they don't go with Connected Realms that cross realm with other Connected Realms O_O I just hope that with this CRZ goes offline

Comment by lankybrit

on 2013-08-05T12:30:55-05:00

The one most asked question that didn't get answered in the FAQ:

Will I be able to mail to my toons on a Connected Realm, and thus will I be able to send Heirlooms to a toon on a Connected Realm.

The fact that they specifically don't mention Mail when talking about the feature is concerning, except for the fact that someone posted over on the wow forums that they'd tried it out on the PTR and it works. Don't know about Heirlooms though.

I'm disappointed that the Blog is pretty content free.

Cheers.

Comment by JeremyAvalon

on 2013-08-05T12:37:28-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Yeah. The only reason they're doing it virtually is so that they don't upset their investors and shareholders. It's typically seen as the death knell of an MMO when servers merge, and this is their way of sidestepping the issue.

Someone always thinks they know the REAL reason Blizz does what it does.... If Everquest is still going after 16 years, I dont see any reason WoW wont be.

I'm not saying wow will die. I'm speaking from a purely fiscal perspective. If blizzard physically merge realms, people will lose confidence in world of warcraft as a money maker. It will affect the value of the entire Activision-Blizzard company.

You do realize that Activision-Blizzard doesn't exist anymore, right? Blizzard bought themselves out and went indie again...

Comment by rehlyihmah

on 2013-08-05T12:38:21-05:00

oh damn, so much for choosing a realm because there are virtually no alliance players. xD

Comment by lankybrit

on 2013-08-05T12:40:39-05:00

its almost a realm merge in almost everything but in name...

Yeah. The only reason they're doing it virtually is so that they don't upset their investors and shareholders. It's typically seen as the death knell of an MMO when servers merge, and this is their way of sidestepping the issue.

Someone always thinks they know the REAL reason Blizz does what it does.... If Everquest is still going after 16 years, I dont see any reason WoW wont be.

I'm not saying wow will die. I'm speaking from a purely fiscal perspective. If blizzard physically merge realms, people will lose confidence in world of warcraft as a money maker. It will affect the value of the entire Activision-Blizzard company.

You do realize that Activision-Blizzard doesn't exist anymore, right? Blizzard bought themselves out and went indie again...

Umm, actually, Activision-Blizzard split from Vivendi.

Cheers.

Comment by WoWlower

on 2013-08-05T13:02:48-05:00

I love it! Now I can finally start a new realm that is connected to my realm so I can send gold and things and I will be in the same guild with my friends :D I wonder only the most will heirlooms be able to be sent since it says that there is no limit.

Comment by Worcester

on 2013-08-05T13:08:35-05:00

There have been so many "death knells" in WoW's history. People just can't wait for a good thing to fall apart.

Warcraft still has about 7 million monthly subscribers. Far more than any MMO out there. Nobody's pulling the plug anytime soon.